Woman seeks compensation to fund glassing surgery

AN ATTRACTIVE young Coolum woman hopes to receive compensation to fund cosmetic surgery to repair scarring to her forehead, after the jailing yesterday of an ex-boyfriend who caused the injuries by smashing a glass in her face.

Emma Pike, now 27, said she was "finally relieved that justice has been served", after Ian Lee Howard, also of Coolum, was jailed for six months for the 2008 attack.

"After four years, he was found guilty, and justice has been done," Ms Pike said outside the Maroochydore District Court.

Miss Pike's parents were with her in the court, and vowed to "support her in getting her life back together".

She agreed to have her photo taken by The Daily to show the three scars - the largest at 4cm - on her forehead as a result of the incident in May 2008.

The two had a brief courtship some months earlier, when they ran into each other at the Noosa-Tewantin RSL, where Miss Pike had told Howard to "f*** off and leave me alone" before spilling "a small amount of beer" in his direction.

With that, Howard tipped his beer over her before throwing the emptied glass into her face, causing it to shatter.

"I had one sip of my first beer. I was there for about 10 minutes," Miss Pike said of her night out.

Miss Pike was taken by ambulance to Noosa Hospital, where the injuries were stitched.

Howard, who has since been in a stable long-term relationship and has three children, was sentenced to 18 months in jail, to be susp ended for two years after serving six months.